Fabric



.- A. KAHIL n Feb. 11, 1941.

FABRI C Filed July 29, 1938 V2 Sheets-Sheet 2 v INVENTOR ABRAHAM '/lH/L.

Patented Feb. 11, v1941 lui'rlaily'r OFFICE y FABRIC Abraham A. Kahn, Ridgefield, N. J.

lApplication July 29,

2 Claims.

My invention relates to fabrics, particularly to two-ply fabrics, onelof which is shrunk and the other of which'isjoined or tied at intervals to the shrunk 'fabric so that it puckers during the pro- 5 cess ofr shrinking.

Heretofore, fabrics of the above generaltype have been made by weaving two plies,one being provided with filling. threads of wool, and the other of which is relatively non-shrinkable, such as cotton, rayon or silk, or mixtures thereof, and with some of the Warp threads of the lower ply Woven at intervals into and out of the non-shrinkable ply so as to tie the two plies together at spaced intervals.

To cause the unshrinkable ply to pucker, the entire fabric is immersed in water of a' suitable temperature to cause the' woolen filler threads of the shrinkable ply to shrink, thereupon thefabiics may be driedwithcut tension. In the resulting fabric the shrunk ply may be stretched to its original dimensions, thus taking out the puckered effect of the unshrunk ply.

If properly prepared, upon releasmg the tension the shrunkv -ply may, however, return approxi- 25 fabric while still wet, or before it is dried and then dried while under tension, A it remains in `its stretched unshrunken condition after drying and the puckered effect on the unshrunkply is substantially lost.

l This manner of forming-the puckered fabric, therefore, hasthe disadvantage that the shrunk ply may be stretched to ,remove the puckered effect even after it has been dried in the shrunken puckered state and also that it prevents tentering during drying as is common for rapid drying of fabrics, inasmuch as this would greatly remove the shrinkage and destroy the puckered effect.

In my present invention I provide a two-ply fabric, 'one ply being permanently shrunk so as to cause the puckering eiect on the upper py,

and a method of forming twoeply puckered fabrics in which the shrunken ply is uniformly and perthreads, preferably warp threads, of the., ply to be Ishrunk to-interweave at vintervals with the ply that is to be puckered. These intervals may have a randomy spacing so as to cause an irregular mately to its original shrunken condition. However, if tension be applied in any way to the shrunk 1938, SerialyNo. 221,877

puckering ofthe ply to be puckered. Preferably, the warp and lling or weft threads of the ply to` 4 be shrunk are substantially of wool so that, upon shrinkage, the ply shrinks equally in both directions.

The multi-ply fabric thusl Woven is then fulled to` impart a permanent shrinkage to the woolen ply. In this fulling the fabric is not only immersed in hot water, `which may be somewhat alkaline, but is subjected toworking while immersed. Thisworking may be of any suitable kind, such as beating or agitating in such a manner as to cause a relative mov-ement between the bers of the woolen cloth. Thismanner of fulling has heretofore been known. Its effect is to 1 cause the bers to more firmly intermat and thus vcause the fabric to shrink.

Due to the peculiar character of the woolen fibers, the effect of fulling in the above manner is to cause them to permanently mat into closer assembly so that they cannot be stretched to their original length even while wet. By having both the warp and weft threads of wool, or largely of wool; a uniform shrinkage in both directions `is obtained. However, if it is desired to have cer` tain zones of the fabric shrunk more than others so as to cause the fabric to bell o ut or ruffle on one or both sides of the zone, as for example, to form a.collar piece. the wool in the zone to be contracted to the greatest extent is so selected as to shrink to the greatest extent on fulling. For this purpose, the zone to be contracted to the greater extent may4 be.'made thicker inasmuch as a thicker fabric fulls more rapidly, or the woolen fabric outside of the zone may be admixed with other fibers, such as silk, cotton or rayon, etc. to a greater extent than the zone given the greatest shrinkage. i

After the fabric has been fulled and while still wet, it may be tautened on a tentering machine, or tentered in any suitable manner. Inasmuch as the shrunken ply has been permanently shrunkv and does notl stretch materially even while wet, the fabric may be passed through the usual tentering machine and dried therein Without destroying the puckeing which takes place during the fulling and shrinking of the shrunken ply.

The result is a fabric having a fulled and perv manently shrunk ply which does not stretch under terial so as to burn oil' the free or projecting bers.

The various featuresof the invention .are illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1- is an upper or plan view of a fabric of V my invention looking downwardly on the "face of together. Y

the fabric.

Fig. 2 is a similar view of thefabric before'fulling and shrinking.

Fig. 3 is a plan or top of a part of thefabric taken on a large or exaggerated scale, the outline vof the puckered fabric being shown and only partly lled in so as to show the relation between thetwo fabrics. v

Fig. 4 is a similar view taken from the opposite vside of the fabric with the areas being broken away to show the manner of tying the two fabrics Figs. 5` and 6 are sections taken on the line scale.

Fig. -7 is a section of the fabric similar to Fig. 6 after shrinking, and

Fig. 8 is a plan view on a greatly reduced scale of the fabric having certainy zones shrunk more than others.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in the accompanying drawings,v a shrinkable ply is' y, shown a's made of warp threads I0, and weft or filling threads II, both of wool, and a relatively knon-shrinking ply I2 of fibers, other than wool.

It willbe understocd,'of course, that although the warp and filler threads I-II and Il are substantially of wool, they may contain small quantities of other fibers if desired, and that although the upper ply I2 is substantially non-woolen, it may contain a small amount of woolen bers, if desired. The difference in the two plies is, how` ever, that one will shrink by fulling,-whereas the other will not, or' not to the same extent,

Asindicated in Fig. 2, the two fabrics are joined at random intervals I3, as indicated by the darkened spots which represent the warp threads ofA the shrinkable ply passingythrough the opposite ply and thence back into the body of the shrink\ able ply. vThisis shown more in detail in Figs. 3 and 4 in which it will be observed that the warp threads I of the shrinkable. ply Dass upwardly between weft or filler threads Il of the none shrinking fabric, thence over said threads and Vdownwardly to the lower fabric. These threads J are generally not readily distinguishable in the v scribed above. `'I'he effect of this is to shorten the tlireads 'I0 and Il.l Preferably the threads are both shortened uniformly, which gives a uniformly shrunk and uniformly puckered fabric.

Inasmuch as the distance between the two tying points shortens for the shrinkable ply, .but remains unshortened forthe other ply, the latter ply'puckers as indicated in Fig. '7. If'the fulling is continued for a long enough time a nap I is raised in the tying portions I3 of the threads I0.

as indicated at the right-,hand part of Fig. 7. If undesired'this nap may be removed byXsingeing the fabric.

It is then necessary only to tenter and d ry the fabric. In case it is desired to form a fabric having certain zones shorter than others so as to cause a ruiiiing effect at opposite sides of the zone, this may be accomplished by making the central zone, which is to be shortened the greatest amount, thicker or richer in wool whereupon it will shrink more in fullingand thus cause a rufiiing eil'ect at opposite sides of the zone.

For example, as shown in Fig. 8, a central zone I6 may be shrunk a greater amount than zones -I'I and I8, causing a ruiiiing effect. 'I'his may be A dene where itis desired te ferm special pieces c1125 material as, 'for example, collar pieces in .which V-5. 6-6 ofFig. 3 qf thafeiiricon anenlarged- I-ene-zone -It w111 be nearest the neek and the zene II or I8, or both, may flare outwardly therefrom.

' In the above'process any of the usual tentering' and fulling apparatus may be employed. Fulling, for example, may be accomplished in a washing machine in which the working maybe accom` might be 20% orless wool, and the ply to be shrunkA might be 50% or more wool.

The inventionhas been illustrated as specifically applied to the` tw0ply`fabric. This is only by way of example, however, and it will be understood that the invention mightbe applied to a three-ply fabric with two plies to be puckered, for example, on opposite sides or faces of a ply to be shrunk. Y What Iclaim is; i l o l. An integrally woven two-ply fabric consisting of separate plies united at intervals widely spaced relative to the meshes' of said plies, one ply being or'beating permanently shrinkable by fulling, the `other ply being closely woven and substantially non-shrinkable by fullingand the permanently shrinkable y ply being fulled and substantially nonstretchable, the non-shrinkable ply being puckeredv within the points of interweaving of s'aldl ply.

2. The fabric of claim 1 in which said perma- `.nently shrinkable ply is predominantly :of wool.

ABRAHAM A. 

